Shortly before the presidential elections in Brazil, experts are taking stock – and the results are not good for the incumbent head of state, Bolsonaro. With his authoritarian demeanor and alienating international partners, he isolated his country. Instead of talking to democrats, he relied on meetings with despots.
The appearance of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at the G20 summit in Rome last year was symbolic of his role on the international stage: Instead of discussing the world situation with his peers at the evening reception, Bolsonaro stood alone at the buffet and at most chatted with a waiter . His most recent misstep was when he campaigned in front of crowds of supporters from the balcony of the Brazilian Ambassador’s residence on the sidelines of the Queen’s funeral service in London.
Many political experts in Brazil agree that the right-wing extremist president has isolated his formerly influential country in four years in office. They point to his ideological approach to international relations, his numerous deviations from diplomatic conventions, insults and missteps. “The country is quite isolated internationally and is in a clear image crisis,” says Fernanda Magnotta, coordinator for international relations at the FAAP Foundation in São Paulo. “Few people want to be photographed with our members of the government.”
The President, who has traveled little, has angered part of the international community because of his environmental policy or his handling of human rights. At the same time, he sought proximity to authoritarian countries: Hungary, for example, but above all Russia, which he visited a week before the invasion of Ukraine. Brazil’s diplomacy is no longer seen as “a means of promoting the economy, but as a means of forging ultra-right alliances in order to score points domestically,” says Rodrigo Goyena Soares, a historian at the University of São Paulo (USP).
China, Brazil’s largest trading partner, also felt alienated by overly sweeping statements from Brasília. And the agreement between the European Union and the Latin American Mercosur was not ratified “due to mutual animosity,” says Fernanda Magnotta. Brazil has also “lost its leading role in regional integration in South America”.
The rampant fires in the Amazon in 2019 also devastated Brazilian-European relations; and relations with France have been strained since Bolsonaro insulted Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte. As recently as August, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes suggested that “insignificant” France should “piss off” if it doesn’t treat its country well. “This has never happened in Brazilian diplomacy and diplomacy at all,” notes Goyena Soares.
Internationally, Bolsonaro had bet everything on the USA under the then President Donald Trump, whom he admired. “Brazil’s adjustment to Trump’s US was unprecedented,” says Felipe Loureiro of the University of São Paulo’s Institute of International Relations, but it was above all “an adjustment to Trumpism.” Relations with Washington have now cooled significantly. Because Trump repeatedly denounced election fraud without any evidence, Bolsonaro was one of the last politicians worldwide to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory. This was “another serious violation of Brazilian diplomatic tradition of non-interference,” notes Loureiro.
At the Itamaraty Foreign Ministry, Bolsonaro “turned captains into generals,” says Goyena Soares. For example, Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo now has “more weight” than Foreign Minister Carlos França, who shys away from the public.
Ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is more popular abroad than at home, wants to make Brazil an internationally recognized partner again. He wants to advance regional integration and revitalize Brazil’s participation in multilateral institutions and climate protection efforts. In any case, Lula is not someone who would stand alone in the corner at international meetings or go out for pizza instead of showing up to dinner with celebrities – as Bolsonaro did at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2019 or at the UN General Assembly in New York in 2021.
